Child&#39;s Garment With Double Slider Zipper

ABSTRACT

The child&#39;s garment ( 12 ) with double slider zipper ( 10 ) is a garment having an upper portion configured to cover the child&#39;s upper body, including the chest, arms, and upper torso, and a lower portion configured to cover the child&#39;s lower body, including the lower torso, hips and legs, and may also cover the feet. The garment ( 12 ) is furnished with an elongated zipper ( 10 ) on the front of the garment extending from the collar to the foot or lower end of the garment, the zipper ( 10 ) extending along only one leg ( 18 ) when the garment ( 12 ) has two legs. The zipper ( 10 ) has a double slider so that the upper portion may be opened by sliding the pull on the upper slider ( 20 ) down from the neckline, or the lower portion may be opened by pulling the lower slider ( 22 ) up from the foot of the garment ( 12 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to garments for infants and smallchildren, and particularly to a child's garment with a double sliderzipper.

BACKGROUND ART

Infants and small children typically must be kept warm, both whilesleeping at night and when going outside during the winter in coldclimates. Consequently, sleepwear and outerwear for infants and smalltoddlers are often in the form of jumpsuits, many of which are equippedwith feet or booties for keeping the child's feet warm. Such clothing iseffective in keeping the child warm, but can be inconvenient when itbecomes necessary to either partially or entirely remove the sleepwearor outerwear, especially when it becomes necessary to change the child'sdiaper or during toileting. The jumpsuit is often equipped with buttons,which are cumbersome. Even when the jumpsuit is equipped with a zipper,the zipper is a single slider zipper that opens at the top, so that theentire jumpsuit needs to be removed for access to the diaper, whichrequires time to remove the upper portion of the garment, and whichleaves both the child's upper and lower body exposed.

Consequently, there is a need for a one-piece child's garment thatcovers both the upper and lower body, and which has a closure elementthat can alternately be opened from either the top or the bottom toaccess either portion of the child's body when needed. Such a garmentwould minimize exposure to the cold or other elements, and would furtherbe more convenient to use for the child's parent or caregiver. Thus, achild's garment having a double slider zipper solving the aforementionedproblems is desired.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The disclosure is directed to a child's garment with double sliderzipper. The garment is adapted for covering both upper and lowerportions of a child's body. The garment has a central opening thatextends from the upper end of the garment to the lower end. The doubleslider zipper has teeth mounted on a pair of stringers attached toopposing edges of the central opening. The zipper extends from the upperend of the garment to the lower end. The double slider zipper has anupper slider and a lower slider mounted in bottom-to-bottom relation sothat the upper slider is selectively movable to a first open position toprovide access to the upper portion of the child's body while keepingthe lower portion covered by the garment, and the lower slider isselectively movable to a second open position to provide access to thelower portion of the child's body while keeping the upper portioncovered by the garment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a child's garment with double sliderzipper according to the present invention, with the zipper being in aclosed configuration.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a child's garment with double sliderzipper according to the present invention, with the zipper being in afirst open configuration.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a child's garment with double sliderzipper according to the present invention, with the zipper being in asecond open configuration.

FIG. 4 is a double slider zipper according to the prior art that may beincorporated into the child's garment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial front view of an alternative embodiment of thechild's garment with double slider zipper according to the presentinvention.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistentlythroughout the attached drawings.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The current invention is directed to a double zippered child's garment.The garment has an upper portion that is configured to cover a child'supper body, including his chest, arms, and upper torso, and a lowerportion configured to cover the child's lower body, including the lowertorso, hips and legs, and may also cover the feet. The lower portion mayhave separate legs with integral booties, or may be a one-piece,sleeping bag configuration. It should be understood that the garment mayhave any configuration, dependent upon the particular needs and desiresof the user. For example, in the above, the garment may include separatelegs without attached booties. Alternatively, it should be understoodthat, as noted above, the double slider zipper may be affixed to asleeping bag-type structure, or any other suitable garment, cover orflexible structure. The garment is furnished with an elongated zipper onthe front of the garment extending from the collar to the foot or lowerend of the garment, the zipper extending along only one leg when thegarment has two legs. The zipper has a double slider so that the upperportion may be opened by sliding the pull on the upper slider down fromthe collar, or the lower portion may be opened by pulling the lowerslider up from the foot of the garment.

The provision of the double slider facilitates access to one portion ofthe child's body while keeping the other portion clothed for warmth andcomfort, and also requires less work from the caregiver (or from thechild), since it is not necessary to remove the entire garment toperform such chores as changing a diaper, or during toileting. Thegarment may also be equipped with features that prevent accidentalopening of the zipper by the child. Such features may include, forexample, a flap or tab that covers the pull of the upper zipper. Theflap may be releasably secured by a snap fastener, button, or otherfastener that the child cannot easily open.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional double slider zipper 10 which may beincorporated into the child's garment of the present invention. Thezipper 10 includes a first row of teeth 28 attached to a first stringeror tape 50, and a second row of teeth 30 attached to a second stringer50. The zipper 10 includes an upper slider 20 and a lower slider 22. Thesliders 20 and 22 are configured in a bottom-to bottom arrangement sothat the teeth are locked together when the sliders 20 and 22 are movedto the ends of the stringers 50, and open or separate when the sliders20 and 22 are moved towards the middle of the stringers. The zipper 10is preferably made from metal or from plastic, although it should beunderstood that the materials, sizes and contouring of the zipperelements are dependent upon the particular needs and desires of theuser.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary child's garment with a double slider zipper ofthe present invention, designated generally as 12 in the drawings. Thegarment 12 includes an upper portion configured to cover the child'supper body, including the chest, arms, and upper torso, and a lowerportion configured to cover the child's lower body, including the lowertorso, hips and legs. The exemplary garment 12 shown in the drawings hasseparate legs with integral booties, although it will be understood thatthe scope of the present invention also extends to a garment having aone-piece, sleeping bag configuration, and to a garment having noprovision for covering the feet, e.g., an elongated coat, and generallyto any child's garment having an upper and lower portion for coveringthe child's upper and lower body in which it may be desirable to haveseparate access to one portion of the child's body while keeping theother portion covered.

The garment 12 is furnished with an elongated zipper 10 on the front ofthe garment 12 extending from the collar to the foot or lower end of thegarment 12. As shown in the drawings, the zipper 10 extends along onlyone leg 18 when the garment 12 has two legs. The zipper 12 has a doubleslider so that the upper portion may be opened by sliding the pull onthe upper slider 20 down from the collar, or the lower portion may beopened by pulling the lower slider 22 up from the foot of the garment12, with the two sliders being independently operable. The zipper 12 isattached to the garment 12 by attaching one stringer 50 to a first side14 of the garment 12 and attaching the opposing stringer 50 to theopposite second side 16 of the garment.

FIG. 1 shows the garment 12 in a closed configuration, with the upperslider 20 pulled up to the collar and the lower slider 22 pulled down tothe lower end of the garment 12. FIG. 2 shows the garment 12 with theupper slider 20 pulled down to the crotch area in a first openconfiguration, with the lower slider 22 remaining closed, as the garment12 would be configured to provide access to the upper portion of thechild's body while keeping the lower portion clothed. The stringer 50 onwhich the first row of teeth 28 is mounted is attached to the edge 24 ofthe first side 14 of the garment 12, for example, by stitching, and thestringer 50 on which the second row of teeth is mounted is attached tothe edge 26 of the opposite second side 16 of the garment 12.

FIG. 3 shows the garment 12 with the upper slider 20 pulled up to thecollar and the lower slider 22 pulled up to the crotch area in a secondopen configuration, as the garment 12 would be configured for providingaccess to the lower portion of the child's body while keeping the upperportion clothed. The stringer 50 on which the lower portion 32 of thefirst row 28 of zipper teeth is mounted is attached to the edge 40 ofthe rear portion of leg 18, for example, by stitching, while thestringer 50 on which the lower portion 34 of the second row 30 of zipperteeth is mounted is attached to the opposing edge 36 of leg 18.

The garment 12 may be provided with other features for the comfort andsafety of the child, such as, for example, having elastic cuffs at theends of the sleeves, a high friction surface on the bottom of the feet,etc.

FIG. 5 shows the child's garment 12 equipped with an additional safetyor convenience feature in the form of a flap or tab 52, which may befolded over the upper slider 20 and secured to the opposite side of thegarment 12 by a snap fastener 54, button, hook and loop, or otherreleasable fastener. The flap 52 precludes the child from playing withthe pull of upper slider 20 and accidentally pulling upper slider 20down to open the upper portion of the garment. Thus, the child's garment12 provides the child with a warm garment 12 that permits the caregivereasy, convenient, selective access to either the upper or lower portionof the child's body without the necessity of completely removing thegarment 12. It should be understood that a second flap may also beprovided for the lower slider 22.

The use of the double zipper system with a garment, such as garment 12,is desirable, but not limited to, particular application to infantclothing. Particularly, the opening of the garment from the bottom up,via lower slider 22, allows for easy and comfortable access duringdiaper changing and toilet training, for example, without requiring thefull removal of the garment from the child, thus keeping the childcontinuously warm throughout the process. It should be understood thatsuch a garment and zipper system may be used with a person of any agewhere such a double zipper system would be desired.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to theembodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodimentswithin the scope of the following claims.

1. A child's garment with double slider zipper, comprising: a garmentadapted for covering both upper and lower portions of a child's body,the garment having an upper end, a lower end, and a central openingextending from the upper end to the lower end; and a double sliderzipper having teeth mounted on a pair of stringers attached to opposingedges of the central opening from the upper end to the lower end, thedouble slider zipper having an upper slider and a lower slider mountedin bottom-to-bottom relation so that the upper slider is selectivelymovable to a first open position to provide access to the upper portionof the child's body while keeping the lower portion covered by thegarment, and the lower slider is selectively movable to a second openposition to provide access to the lower portion of the child's bodywhile keeping the upper portion covered by the garment.
 2. The child'sgarment with double slider zipper as recited in claim 1, wherein theupper end of said garment includes a central portion and a pair oflaterally opposed sleeves positioned along laterally opposed side edgesof the central portion and projecting outwardly therefrom.
 3. Thechild's garment with double slider zipper as recited in claim 2, whereinan upper region of the central opening is formed substantially centrallythrough the central portion of the upper end and extends along asubstantially longitudinal axis.
 4. The child's garment with doubleslider zipper as recited in claim 2, wherein the lower end of saidgarment includes a pair of leg portions joined to the central portionand projecting downwardly therefrom.
 5. The child's garment with doubleslider zipper as recited in claim 4, wherein a lower region of thecentral opening is formed through a side wall of one of the legportions.
 6. The child's garment with double slider zipper as recited inclaim 4, wherein an upper region of the central opening is formedthrough a front surface of the central portion of the upper end of thegarment.
 7. The child's garment with double slider zipper as recited inclaim 1, further comprising: an upper flap joined to the upper end ofthe garment adjacent a top end of the central opening along a first sidethereof, the upper flap selectively covering the upper slider when theupper slider is positioned adjacent the top end; and means forreleasably securing the upper flap to a second side of the upper end ofthe garment adjacent the top end of the central opening, whereby theuser may selectively cover and secure the upper flap over the upperslider.
 8. The child's garment with double slider zipper as recited inclaim 7, further comprising: a lower flap joined to the lower end of thegarment adjacent a bottom end of the central opening along a first sideof the lower end of the garment, the lower flap selectively covering thelower slider when the lower slider is positioned adjacent the bottomend; and, means for releasably securing the lower flap to a second sideof the lower end of the garment adjacent the bottom end of the centralopening, whereby the user may selectively cover and secure the lowerflap over the lower slider.